Great White Sharks, Killer Whales and Megamouth Sharks - By

Kristopher Hankins

The Prehistoric (Extinct) Megamouth Shark

Great White Sharks -

Great White Sharks are the largest predatory animals on earth. They have slate grey upper
bellies which allow them to blend in with the rocky coastal sea floor. They get their name,
however from their white under bellies. Great Whites can live from 70 to 100 years. It is
amazing that Great White Sharks can be from 16 to 24 feet long.
Killer Whales or Orcas -

Orcas, more commonly known as Killer Whales are a lot like Great White Sharks. Killer
Whales like the Great White Sharks are powerful predators. They feast on seals, sea lions and
whales. They have giant teeth that are four inches long! Killer Whales hunt in pods of up to 40
family members. Their hunting techniques are like that of a wolf pack where they communicate
and work together to bring down prey. Orcas have a white under belly like the Great White
Shark. The top of their bodies is black.
Types of Megamouth Sharks It is time for the best Shark ever! It is the megamouth and it can pull a anchor. The Megamouth
can also can pull something over 200 pounds with its mouth. There are 2 types of megamouth
sharks. One lived a long time ago and is extinct, which means that they died out and no more
exist on the earth today. The other species has evolved over time and we will discuss it later.
The Extinct Prehistoric Megamouth Shark In an article by Philip Ross written on 11/04/13 on @ThisIsPRo, named Extinct Megamouth
Shark Identified After Prehistoric Teeth Sat In Museum Drawer For 50 Years, an extinct species
of megamouth shark, an extremely rare type of deep-water shark, has finally been identified.
Per Rosss article, the prehistoric shark reached lengths of up to 27 feet and migrated between
the deep and shallow waters of the Pacific searching for food. This recently recognized massive
megamouth shark roamed our oceans nearly 23 million years ago.
Scientists first found teeth from the ancient shark beginning in the early 1960s. NBC News
reported that the teeth were recovered from the deep and shallow sediments off the coasts of
California and Oregon. But because there was no known species of shark at the time to
compare the teeth to, scientists werent sure what to do with the prehistoric teeth, and they
ended up in a drawer at the Los Angeles County Museum. Shimada recently came across the
forgotten teeth, and when he discovered that no one was actively studying them, he and two
other scientists took up the task.
The extinct species of megamouth, which, like todays megamouth sharks, fed on plankton and
small fish, had longer, pointier teeth than the modern megamouth shark has. Scientists also
determined that the ancient creature had a slightly longer snout than its contemporary kin.
"That suggests that they probably had a wider food selection," states study co-author Kenshu
Shimada, a paleo-biologist at DePaul University in Chicago. "They could have probably eaten
plankton, but they were also probably feeding on fish."

The Megamouth Shark of Today Here are some facts about the megamouth shark of today. The Megamouth shark was
discovered in 1976, when a U.S. Navy research vessel hauled up an adult male specimen off
the coast of Hawaii near Oahu.

The paper on the new species, published in 1983, described its discovery, preservation, and
dissection: The ship had deployed two large parachutes as sea anchors at a depth of about
165 m in water with a bottom depth of approximately 4600 m. When the parachutes were
hauled to the surface one of them had entangled in it a large adult male shark 4.46 m (14.6
ft) long and 750 kg (1653 lbs). Crew members of the AFB-14 realized that the shark was
unusual and brought it aboard with much difficulty. The shark was shipped to the Kaneohe Bay
facility of the Naval Undersea Center and tied alongside the dock overnight. Preliminary
examination indicated that it represented a very distinct, undescribed species, and it was
decided that it should be preserved intact. Accordingly, the shark was winched out of the water
by the tail using a Navy crane, but the caudal fin broke off and the shark fell into the water and
had to be retrieved by divers.
The shark was quick-frozen at Hawaiian Tuna Packers, Honolulu, while a large preservation
tank was constructed. On 29 November 1976, the shark was transported frozen to the Kewalo
dock site of the National Marine Fisheries Service for thawing and injection with formalin.
Subsequent examination of the shark indicated that it is a lamniform shark that is not

assignable to any known genus or family and is herein described as Megachasma pelagios,
new genus and species, and placed in the new family Megachasmidae. Since then, there have
been only 55 confirmed sightings and a few other rumored sightings until May 2014.. According
to the paper that accompanied the announcement of the species in 1983, newspapers actually
came up with the name: It was dubbed the Megamouth shark in reference to its unusually
large oral cavity. The Megamouth of today can be found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian
Oceans. He feeds on krill. They range in length from 17 to 25 feet and are not great swimmers.
The Megamouth has 50 rows of tiny teeth on each jaw, but only the first three rows are
functional.

Scientists put radio tags on a male Megamouth that was caught in a net in 1990 and tracked it
for two days, revealing that the sharks undergo vertical migration. Tom Haight, who swam with
the shark and photographed it underwater as the animal was tagged and released, wrote that
"From dawn to sunset he swam slowly at 450 to 500 feet into the prevailing current, apparently
feeding on krill that were at that depth during the daytime. From sunset to sunrise he ascended
to 39 to 46 feet below the surface to feed on the krill as they also ascended. The extreme
daylight depth could explain why the megamouth shark is so rarely spotted."